Lust, Love & War
by BKGladiator
Summary: AU. The title is pretty self explanatory. Olivia, Fitz, and a one night stand that won't go away. Scandal and its characters belongs to ABC, SR & Co, et al.
1. Chapter 1

Fitzgerald Thomas "Fitz" Grant looked around at his surroundings and marveled at his situation. There he was, after having been dragged out to celebrate by Harrison Wright – one of his oldest and closest friends – at a lounge. Fitz didn't do lounges, especially lounges where, on Saturday nights, played nothing but hip hop, r&b, and dancehall reggae. Oh, it wasn't that he didn't like that type of music. On the contrary, Fitz's eclectic iPod playlist was filled with older and current artists like Joe, Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Miguel, and Robin Thicke. Hell, he even had a few of the more mainstream crossover reggae artists like Shaggy and Sean Paul in rotation – though, admittedly, he sometimes had no clue what they were saying. No, musical selection wasn't an issue. The issue was that he didn't want to embarrass himself. He could dance, and dance very well - most of the time. But sometimes, when he wanted to impress someone, he could sometimes appear rhythmically challenged. During these rare occasions, he'd just look so awkward, as if his body wouldn't cooperate.

Yet, he let Harrison talk him into coming here to hang out. The two men didn't get to see each other as often as they would like. Three years ago, Harrison left the law firm both he and Fitz worked at in order to put his MBA, gotten in a joint JD/MBA program, to use at a consulting shop. Thus, the two men, having been friends since sitting next to each other on their first day of Civil Procedure at Harvard Law School, took any opportunity presented to get together. Since Fitz was made the lead attorney on a workplace discrimination case, Fitz knew that his free time could be severely limited for the next few weeks.

"Here you go, my man. Drink up. Unwind. Relax. We're supposed to be having fun! You know you won't be able to unwind like this for a while," Harrison said, taking a swig of his own drink, a Hennessy and Coke.

Fitz swallowed a gulp of scotch. "Harrison, you know I love you. But, you know I'm not really into the lounge slash club scene. I have no idea what you were thinking."

Harrison grinned. "Honestly? I was thinking you need to get laid, and that this would be a good way to make that happen."

"What the hell are you talking about? I don't _need_ to get laid. Harrison, just –"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm the hell down Fitz. I was joking…but given your reaction, maybe you really do need to get laid. Your defensiveness is showing, and we are not in a court of law," Harrison smirked, knowing that he'd gotten the better of his friend.

"I'm just going to ignore you and drink my scotch." Which is what Fitz did, sipping as he looked out onto the dance floor from his spot on the club's mezzanine floor. For a few minutes Fitz and Harrison chatted about work as much as they could over the loud music.

"So how do you like this spot, man?" Harrison asked Fitz, already knowing what Fitz was going to say. Harrison also expected the frown he received before Fitz answered the question.

"Harrison, you know how I sometimes get in places like this."

"But it's 90's Night, Fitz! C'mon man. Montell Jordan? Biggie? This is your kind of music Fitz."

"Yea I know, but—" Fitz cut his sentence short when his attention was caught by the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen—and living in NYC, one often sees their fair share of good looking women. But the woman below in the middle of the dance floor was absolutely stunning. Fitz knew that if he thought she was stunning from this current distance, she'd be even more breathtaking up close.

She was working the dance floor with two girlfriends from what Fitz could see - and she had moves. Fitz noticed that he wasn't the only man in the building eying her, and he felt a wave of irrational possessiveness come over him. He felt aroused and jealous all at the same time, feelings that he'd never experienced working in concert.

"Fitz, what are you looking at?" Harrison asked him. His attention had been momentarily taken away by the waitress who'd brought him a refill on his Hennessy & Coke and her accompanied flirting. When the woman went to deliver drinks to other patrons, Harrison finally realized that his best friend was staring at the dance floor below them. "Ok, so the question isn't what you are looking at, but _who_ you are looking at. Which one Fitz?" Harrison asked as he peered into the throng of the dancing crowd.

When Fitz didn't answer, Harrison looked at his friend who still looked as if he were in a trance. Instead of posing the question again, Harrison followed Fitz's line of sight and zeroed in on a very attractive woman dancing with a group of girlfriends. She was hot, and currently cutting up in the dance floor. Then, the DJ started playing Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" and the woman in question got noticeably more excited and started doing the wop.

"This must be one of her favorite songs. Hell, Poison is everyone's favorite song. Go down there and dance with her. She's the one you're staring at, right?" Harrison asked Fitz while trying to point, as discretely as he could, to who he thought was the woman who'd captured his friend's attention so thoroughly.

Harrison's suggestion seemed to have gotten Fitz's attention. "You know I can't, at least not while she's surrounded by so many people watching her."

"So, what, you plan on waiting until she's sitting a corner somewhere by herself? Because, I have to tell you, even if she took a dance break she wouldn't be taking that break alone. She'd either be with her friends or any one of these guys that have been staring at her as much as you have. You gotta make your move before it's too late."

Right at that moment a man, clearly confident by the gait of his stride and the way he adeptly maneuvered around those in between him and the mystery woman, walked behind her and grabbed her hips and tried to grind on her. The woman whipped around quickly, wavy locks flying, and held her hand up to the guy. Fitz watched the interaction with a small smile. He couldn't read her lips, but given the way the man walked away dejectedly, Fitz made an educated guess that the woman had told him to back off.

"Maybe she doesn't want to dance with anyone?" Fitz speculated, as he watched another man get the brush off.

"Or maybe she just didn't find those guys attractive enough to want to dance with?" Harrison retorted. They watched the women dance and laugh for a while longer before Harrison had enough. "I'm going down there to dance."

Fitz opened his mouth to speak, but before he could yell out anything over the music Harrison interrupted him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to dance with your girl. I _am_ going to dance with her friends though. They're hot. And maybe this way you'll be comfortable enough to bring your ass down there and get ya girl." With that, Harrison downed the rest of his drink and put the empty glass on the table. He clapped Fitz hard on the back and made his way toward his goal. All Fitz felt he could do was stand there and watch from the mezzanine. He saw Harrison approach the group and tap one of the ladies in the shoulder. Harrison must have said something suave or charming, because the woman smiled and they began dancing front to front.

After a few minutes of standing alone and brushing off two come ons, Fitz felt silly. Here he was, 35 years old, and afraid to talk to a woman. It was ridiculous - he wasn't going to stand for it. He was going to take a chance and hope for the best.

When Poison started playing, Olivia Pope was excited. "Alex, I love this song!" Olivia exclaimed over the music to her older sister Alexandra Pope-Spencer.

"I know girl, isn't the DJ great tonight? I knew you'd like it! What about you two?" Alex asked Quinn Perkins and Abby Whelan, who nodded in response. Abby and Quinn had been friends with Olivia for years, so when Alex decided her sister needed a night out she got the two other women to join her coercion and make the sometimes too cerebral woman come out and enjoy herself.

Olivia was about to answer her sister when she felt hands on her hips and her body being pulled against someone. Olivia frowned in frustration and turned around quickly, moving her body away to regain a semblance of personal space. When she was face to face with the guy - an admittedly handsome guy - the guy opened his arms to pulled her back to him when she held her hand up to him.

"I don't want to dance with anyone but my girlfriends tonight. Thanks but no thanks," Olivia yelled firmly over the beat. When Olivia turned down another prospective dance partner, Alex had had enough.

"Liv, what's your problem, why won't you dance with anyone? We're at a club for crying out loud!"

"Alex, leave me alone. I let you drag me here and I let you dress me as if I were your personal Barbie doll like you used to when we were kids." Olivia pointed at her attire - black leather leggings that appeared painted onto her form, a silk sleeveless wrap around top in white that showed off teases of cleavage that differed depending on what dance move she was doing, and a pair of four and a half inch leopard Christian Louboutin heels - for emphasis. "Alex, I even let you do my hair and makeup," Olivia said, speaking of the soft waves in her hair, very different from her normally structured and sometimes severe styles, and the black rimmed eyes and pouty deep red lips.

"But you look hot, Liv! You can't even say that don't like how I styled you, because you'd be lying!"

Olivia couldn't lie, she did look good. It was definitely far from her more conservative attire and subtle makeup, but she looked great and loved her sister's sense of style. "Yea, I look good. It doesn't mean I want to dance with anyone. You know I hate strange guys grinding all over me!"

Alex was about to respond (and as the older sister, she preferred having the last word) when Quinn spoke up. "Alex, she's right. She's here and she's having fun. If she doesn't want to dance with anyone it's okay. Plus, that leaves more for me and Abby, right Abby?" Abby, who was dancing with a cute guy with serious moves, nodded and gave them a thumbs up. Olivia, grinning at her sister in victory, just kept dancing.

"Just Got Paid" started blasting over the speakers and Olivia turned to Quinn to dance with her. They'd only be dancing for maybe thirty seconds when Quinn's attention was gotten by Harrison. Olivia wiggled her eyebrows at her friend and Quinn giggled in response before giving her attention to Harrison and doing her rendition of the Prep. Olivia turned around to her sister and danced with her.

After a bit of dancing, Harrison leaned over to talk into Quinn's ear. "You're a good dancer!"

"Thanks!" They danced a bit more until Quinn noticed Fitz watching their group. "Hey you see that guy? I think he's been watching us for a while."

When Harrison looked over and saw Fitz, he smiled, happy that his friend was trying to make a move. "Don't mind him. That my friend. I think he's trying to work up the nerve to dance with you friend," Harrison said, subtly pointing his chin at Olivia.

Quinn was about to say "you mean Olivia?" but then remembered that her longtime friend rarely, if ever, gave out her name to random guys, especially in this type of setting. So, in response, she said only "her?" while pointing at Olivia, who had her back turned to them. At Harrison's nod, Quinn said "he's really good looking. Why doesn't he just go up to her?"

"Because he's psyched himself out after seeing her turn down a couple of guys."

"Well, he should try anyway. You never know unless you try."

"That's exactly what I tried to tell him, but he's grown, he's going to do - or not do -what he wants." Harrison didn't know what else to say. Her never really seen his friend become so taken with a woman so fast, but there was a first time for everything. Yet, despite that, he didn't know what Fitz would do. He knew that under normal circumstances Fitz was more than comfortable approaching women, but this wasn't his home court, so to speak. Harrison was actually thinking about trying to find a subtle way to point him out to Olivia, when he saw Fitz begin to make his way toward his mystery woman. Fitz looked at Harrison and was given a thumbs up.

With that Fitz took a deep breath and walked up to Olivia. He tapped her on the shoulder and waited for her to turn around.

Olivia already had a caustic remark waiting on her tongue ready to go for yet another pushy guy, when she turned around and was momentarily struck mute. In front of her was probably the most handsome and all around good looking guy she'd ever seen. He could have easily been on a GQ cover with his simple, but timeless, well fitted jeans, black button up shirt, and leather loafers. He had hair she knew would bring her joy and pleasure to run her hands through, and his lips, twisted into a cocky smirk, made her want to do unspeakable things.

"Hi," the man said.

"Hi," was her simple and seemingly effective response, for the man broke out into a wide and beautiful smile.

"Dance with me," he said with a tone that spoke of confidence and assertiveness, not aggression.

"Ok." And they danced.

**A/N: This is my first AU, guys! I'm excited about it What do you think so far? Sexy times in the next chapter! Leave me some reviews :-)**

**xo**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The response to the first chapter has been AMAZING. Thank you! As far as this chapter goes, please pay attention to a set of names here; hopefully I wrote it in a way so that you won't be confused. Explicit sexy times ahead-you've been warned!**

Olivia didn't know what had gotten into her, but she was going to go with it. Abby once told her that everyone should have a one night stand at least once in their life. Olivia, upon hearing that, scoffed. Not because she questioned the pearl of wisdom or because she was being judgmental. No, Olivia scoffed because she knew she was too straight laced to ever do something like that, let alone consider it. Or, that's what she's always thought about herself. She supposed situations like the one she was about to enter led to the coining of the now apt cliché "never say never." At this moment, a moment that found her allowing Fitz to usher her into their hotel room for the night, she'd never been more anxious or happier than to have that cliché apply to her.

* * *

Olivia and Fitz had been inseparable from the second he asked her to dance. They danced for a long time and Olivia was surprised at how well Fitz danced. When the DJ started playing reggae, Fitz was able to keep up, with his hands on her waist, moving his body in time to match her slowly gyrating hips. The way he worked his hips with and into her body made Olivia have thoughts of how Fitz would work her body if they were alone and naked. God help her, she wanted to find out, because that thought in her head would not go away no matter how hard she tried.

At one point she asked him where he learned his moves. He smiled a big smile and didn't answer and instead asked if she was surprised he could dance as well as he could. Olivia smiled coyly, and responded with a succinct "maybe." When Fitz mentioned that he had even more moves if she wanted to see them, she had surprised herself by saying that she may want to take him up on that offer. As the pair danced, Alex looked at her sister in equal parts shock, amusement and worry. She'd never seen her sister dance with one guy throughout the night. She hadn't even done it with Edison Davis, the former boyfriend that Olivia dated for two years. So this was certainly different. Also different was the fact that, after having lost sight of her sister and her mysterious dance partner for a bit, Olivia returned and pulled her friends and sister to the side to tell them that she and Fitz were leaving.

Alex argued with her sister, telling her that it wasn't safe to go off with some strange man. Olivia rolled her eyes when Alex asked if she was drunk, and told her sister that the amaretto sours she's been drinking throughout the night hadn't affected her reasoning skills. Neither Abby nor Quinn were happy about the idea either, until Olivia reminded Abby of the one night stand advice she'd previously given. To appease them, Olivia messaged the women a picture she'd taken of Fitz. Abby was stunned when she saw the pic, an excellent quality selfie of Olivia and Fitz with their cheeks close together and big smiles on their faces. She'd never seen her friend look like that before, so happy and seemingly at peace. Abby knew Alex and Quinn had the same reaction, since the three women shared covert looks. Once they had the picture, his name and where they were going, the trio could do nothing else but advise her to be careful and call them if Olivia needed them. Olivia was an adult, after all. The ladies' reactions were very different from Harrison's, who, before saying goodbye and making plans to catch up the following day, once again reiterated his opinion that Fitz needed to get laid - and then proceeded to slap a few condoms into Fitz's open palm. When Fitz walked over to the ladies and asked "Carolyn" if she was ready to go, Alex glared at her sister, a glare that Olivia quickly returned. So what if she didn't tell Fitz her name was Olivia? And, Olivia had further rationalized to herself, it wasn't even a lie since Carolyn was her middle name.

After saying their goodbyes, Fitz, with a surety of purpose, took control of the situation and led her out of the club. He wanted - needed - to be alone with her, preferably somewhere with a big and comfortable bed. King sized. Though the weather was starting to warm up for spring, the nights were still cold and brisk. Fitz saw Olivia shiver, and took off the jacket he wore and draped it over the sweater she had on.

"Do you want to follow behind me? Or, do you want to ride with me and I'll bring you to pick up your car in the morning?" Fitz wanted her to feel comfortable and be in control of the situation. He would have been more than fine with her following behind him in her car, but he was even happier that she wanted to ride with him instead.

During the drive Fitz kept Olivia's hand in his, stroking it with the back of his thumb. Every few minutes he'd bring her hand to his lips and kiss it softly. Once, he kissed each of Olivia's knuckles before placing her index finger into his mouth so that he could suck it and make her thing about what else he planned to do with his tongue. And, think she did. Luckily, traffic was on their side and they made it to the Ritz-Carlton near Central Park in record time. She was primed and ready by the time they pulled up to the hotel and Fitz secured overnight parking with the valet.

Though he wanted to get a suite overlooking the park, Fitz had to settle for just a room. Olivia was fine with that, urging him not to spend so much money. After receiving a knowing glance from the concierge, Olivia and Fitz made their way to the elevator bank. Olivia couldn't keep still as she waited for the elevator; she was tapping her foot and playing with her hair. Fitz saw the nerves and stepped behind Olivia, wrapping his arms around her.

"Are you nervous, Carolyn?" he asked, his lips so close to her ear that she felt the slight stroke of his lips moving against it as she spoke. His hand was low on her abdomen, splayed out so that he could feel more off her.

Olivia laughed. "Not nervous at all."

"You should be," was Fitz's response before he kissed her neck and started sucking at her pulse point. A ragged moan that Olivia was helpless to hold in escaped her mouth.

"Fitz, stop! Someone could see!"

"Who? There's no one here!" Fitz laughed and stepped away from Olivia, wanting to keep her happy. He was about to press the elevator's call button once more when he heard the "ding." He led Olivia into the elevator and pressed 25. Fitz turned and saw Olivia standing in the opposite corner away from him.

"Carolyn. Come here." Once again, Fitz's assertiveness was showing. She shook her head and stayed where she was. Instead of going to her, he stayed where he was and stared at her as the elevator took them to their floor. His gaze burned her, that's how intense it was. She felt as if she could see through the armor of her clothes and could picture her nakedness. From the look on his face, Olivia gathered that he was pleased with what he was imagining. She hoped the real thing lived up to his expectations...and hers too.

Finally the elevator slowed and the doors opened. Fitz stepped out, put one hand against a recessed elevator door and hell the other hand out for Olivia to take. Hand in hand they walked down the hall and corner and approached their room for the night. Fitz ushered Olivia into the room as butterflies, nerves and extreme arousal threatened to take over.

* * *

As Olivia walked through the foyer and into the wide open space of the bedroom, Fitz could only stare at her, not believing his luck. Maybe Harrison was right and he did need to get laid. This was the perfect way to do it. No strings, no attachments. They'd both have some fun and go their separate ways in the morning. This lust that he felt for Olivia was strong. After dancing for a long while, Fitz asked her if she wanted a drink. So, she followed him to the bar where he'd bought her drink of choice - an amaretto sour. After a bit of teasing, they toasted each other. She then pulled out her iPhone and the pair began taking pictures of him and then them as a couple. Their last picture ended in a kiss. Fitz, leading Olivia from her seat at the bar, pulled her to a far corner, sandwiched between a couple and some singles and told her she was beautiful. The saucy smile he received in return made him step further into her personal space. She didn't seem to mind, however, and wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled his head down to hers and kissed him again, this time with all that she had. He could taste the sweetness of the amaretto sour she drank on her lips and tongue. He felt as if their impromptu make out session lasted forever, when in reality it lasted a maximum of five minutes. After that five minutes, Olivia leaned over so that she could talk directly into his ear and tell him that they should get out of there and go someplace "quieter"...with a bed.

Now, here they were, in a quieter place with a king sized bed at their disposal. Fitz planned to put that bed to use.

"The skyline is beautiful at night. I've always loved the New York City lights. I've missed them. I've missed Central Park, too." Olivia stated, staring out of the window whose curtain was pushed to the side.

"Missed? Did you just move back here?" Fitz asked her as he made his way toward her, after having dimmed the room's lights to a low and soft glow, only stopping when her back was too his front. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down so that he could put his chin on her shoulder.

"I did, not too long ago." The way it was said told Fitz that her moving back to New York was not something she wished to discuss. So, he let it go.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Fitz asked. In response, Olivia turned in his arms to face him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she told him that the only thing she wanted was him before her lips crashed into his. Their kissing was frantic, they grabbed each other so that they wouldn't fall due to their eagerness. Fitz moved so that Olivia had no choice but to back up until her back was against the window. Quickly, Fitz grabbed Olivia's roaming hands, transferred both into one of his larger hands and then held them up above her head against the window. When Fitz saw the brown doe eyes widen in shock and slight apprehension.

"Is this ok, Carolyn? You can tell me if it isn't. I want this to be good for the both of us," Fitz said softly while staring into her eyes. He stilled his other hand, which was kneading the flesh of her ass. "I won't hurt you."

Somehow, instinctively, Olivia knew he wouldn't hurt her. Olivia could tell, though, that Fitz had a dominant side to him, and she was pretty sure that he was about to let that dominance take over tonight. It made her nervous, but mostly she was excited.

"Popcorn," she said. When Fitz raised a single brow, she continued. "You have to stop whatever it is you're doing if I say that word."

"So, if you don't say "popcorn", I can do this?" Fitz asked, moved his hand from her firm rounded bottom to cup her center. It was as if he could feel its heat burning his hand through the leather of her leggings.

"And I can do this?" Fitz asked again, this time against her neck as he proceeded to suck gently on the exposed flesh. Olivia started to feel slight sensory overload due to Fitz's actions. The thumb of his hand that restrained hers against the wall glided back and forth over her kiss. The kisses and sucking feeling on her jugular made her eyes almost roll into the back of her head. The hand that was once outside of her leggings had bypassed them and stroked her throw the thin barrier provided by her lace panties. All Olivia could do was nod in response to his question.

Soon, this wasn't enough for Fitz. He needed to see her, to feast his eyes upon her. He needed to taste her, to be in her. After having trailed his lips back to hers, entwining their tongues together, Fitz took two steps back and dropped his hands to his side.

"Take off your clothes, Carolyn." Still slightly dazed, Olivia heard this command and had no problems obeying. She walked toward the bed, stopping once she stood next to it. He stayed where he was and watched as she did a striptease for him. And Olivia watched as Fitz began to remove his own clothes, toeing off his loafers and dispensing of his shirt. His movements became slower as Olivia removed each piece of clothing, until he completely stopped upon seeing her in black lace underwear and black lace and satin demi cup bra. His trance lifted as Olivia lazily unclasped the front of her bra, revealing perky breasts and pebbled nipples. She caressed her breasts before hooking her thumbs in the sides of her panties.

"Stop." Fitz now stood in front of her, their sizable height difference evident now that she no longer wore her heels. "Let me do it." He moved her hands out of the way before bending to kiss her again, hugging her naked chest against his. Being skin to skin with her made Fitz feel even more aroused. He then hooked his own thumbs in the sides of Olivia's panties and slow pushed them down until they dropped to pool around her ankles. Olivia broke their kiss and stated at him while he stared at her naked body. Any other time Olivia's would have been shy about such a frank perusal of her body, but it was more than clear that Fitz liked what he saw. She stepped out of her panties right as Fitz pounced on her like a lion in the wild. The next thing Olivia knew, she was on the bed and Fitz was on top of her kissing her whole caressing her body.

The feeling of Fitz, still partially clothed due to the jeans and boxer he had yet to remove, on top of her naked body made her shake with added need and want. She needed to feel his naked body against hers so badly. The coarseness of his jeans rubbing against her over sensitive flesh was a further overload of her senses.

"Fitz, please," she begged.

"Please what, baby?" Fitz asked her to elaborate while continuing to caress her breasts. His nimble fingers may as well been playing with Olivia's breasts as if they were a piano. She arched her back, pushing more of her breast into his hands. He squeezed and pinched the flesh under his hand, enjoying the soft moans and shudders he coaxed from her. "Tell me what you want, what you need, Carolyn."

"Please...put your mouth on me," Olivia begged once more.

"Where? Here?" Without waiting for confirmation, Fitz's face swooped down to her breast and proceeded to lave his tongue around one erect nipple. Olivia hissed in appreciation of this new onslaught to her senses.

Fitz slithered down the foot of the bed until he found himself off of it and kneeling on the floor. Then, without warning, he grabbed Olivia's ankles and pulled her down until her ass was at the edge of the bed.

"Spread your legs for me, Carolyn." Fitz didn't ask, he commanded. And Olivia obeyed, becoming used to his sexual dominance, spreading her legs a bit.

Fitz tsked. "C'mon sweetheart, I know you can do better than that." Fitz's index finger was trailing up and down her wet slit, and on the downward stroke he inserted two fingers into Olivia, making her moan loudly. "Open for me."

This time Olivia didn't hesitate. She spread her legs widely, giving Fitz a clear view of her whole body. When she didn't immediately feel Fitz's mouth on her, she leaned up and braces herself on her elbows. She saw him stating at her and began to feel nervous and uncomfortable. Was something wrong? Olivia's was about to close her legs when Fitz began to speak.

"You have such a pretty pussy, Carolyn. Has anyone ever told you that?" With a landing strip being on the only hair on her vulva, Fitz had an uninstructed view of everything and he more than liked what he saw.

Olivia smirked. "No, I've never been told that before. But thank you."

"It's beautiful. I love how it's glistening with wetness for me. I bet you taste so good, so sweet. Do you want me to taste you, Carolyn?"

"Yessssssss," she hissed.

And he did, delving into her folds with purpose, as if his only goal in life was to make her cum and scream his name. He left no place untouched by his tongue. Olivia could not stop the string of moans and "oh Gods" that were coming out of her mouth. Fitz changed tactics, inserting two fingers into Olivia so that he could be free to look at her. What he saw made his dick harden even more, if that was possible. Olivia was writhing on the bed with her head thrown back in obvious pleasure and her nimble fingers playing with her nipples.

"I'm going to make you cum Carolyn. Can I do that? Or do you want to say popcorn?" He asked her, his lips hovering over her clit.

"Please, Fitz. Make me cum. I need it!" Olivia panted out. She screamed when she felt his lips latch onto her clit and his tongue flick it back and forth. She grabbed his hair and pushed his face into her, undulating her hips at the same time. Seconds later she screamed his name as her orgasm shook her to her core. "Fitz, Fitz, Fitz, Fitz…" she said his name over and over as her body quaked and toes curled - literally.

Fitz kept up his ministrations in his need to ensure that she got all of the pleasure he could give her. When she finally stilled, he got up and hastily removed his jeans and boxers, freeing the erection that had been trapped for seemingly forever. Olivia leaned up on her elbows to watch him, her eyes widening at the sight before her. Fitz's naked body was chiseled and beautiful. The hair on his chest was inviting and she just wanted to run her hand through it. Then her eyes settled onto his erect member - long, hard and thick. Her mouth watered slightly thinking about how it would feel to have him in her mouth. It was evident Olivia's thoughts would have to wait, though: she watched as he quickly tore open a condom packet and sheathed himself in the thin latex. Olivia moved up on the bed to make room for Fitz, who crawled onto the foot of the bed.

"Are you ready?" Fitz asked her.

"Yesssssssss," Olivia responded, her belly quivering in anticipation.

"I want to take you from behind," Fitz stated, as he stroked himself, his eyes never leaving hers. Olivia's slowly and seductively placed herself on all fours. Once in position, she glanced at him over her shoulder with a coy smile and a raised eyebrow. That set him off and he quickly situated himself behind her. He ran the head of his penis against her slick folds before slowly inserting himself into her tight heated center. Once he bottomed out, they moaned simultaneously.

"You feel so good, Carolyn," Fitz said as he began moving in and out of her body.

"You do, too," was the soft reply he got in return. She rolled her hips to assist his thrusts and Fitz could have sworn that the sight of her ass swiveling made his dick harder than it already was. The sound of skin slapping against skin was joined by soft moans, grunts and small sighs. Fitz leaned over, his body almost totally covering Olivia's much smaller body, turned Olivia's face toward his and kissed her hard. Their tongues dueled as he continue to pump into her.

Olivia then wrenched her mouth from his and told him to go harder and faster, which he had no problem doing. He leaned up and increased the tempo of his thrusts, but didn't become sloppy. He had a goal - he wanted to make her come again.

"Play with your breast, Carolyn. Pinch your nipple." Fitz command. One of Olivia's hands reached up and did as she was told. Fitz then slide one hand over the crease of her hip to reach her center.

The feeling of Olivia's own hand on her breast, Fitz playing with her clit and his thrusts were enough to have Olivia screaming Fitz's name as she had her second orgasm. With that, Fitz's remaining control became nonexistent as her worked toward his own release. With his final thrust, he rammed into Olivia and groaned and released a loud "fuck!" before he collapsed next to her prone form. They were facing each other and breathing hard. Fitz leaned over and brushed some of the hair out of Olivia's eyes. Her eyes were bright. She smiled at him and he smiled right back.

"Again?" she asked him.

"Once I recharge, I'm all yours."

Their breathing slowed and eventually evened out. Yet, sleep claimed them before they could think about starting round two.


	3. Chapter 3

When Olivia's eyes flickered open, she had no idea what time it was or how long she had slept. It couldn't have been that long - the slightly open curtains showed that it would've been pitch black outside if not for numerous lights illuminating the city. The room was still bathed in the soft glow since both she and Fitz fell asleep before turning off the lights. But, the ambient light wasn't what woke Olivia. No, Olivia woke up due to the sensations that were being stirred in her body, specifically, the feeling of Fitz lightly trailing his fingers along her naked back. It took her a few moments, but she soon realized that he was writing "Carolyn" over and over on her back in different places and sizes.

"You know, if you wanted to doodle my name over and over, I'm sure the hotel had pen and paper somewhere in here," Olivia said, turning her head so that she could face him. She smiled at Fitz and he smiled right back at her. "How long did we sleep?"

"For about an hour," he responded, still doodling her name on her back with his fingertips. He began to doodle "Carolyn" again, this time on her side, and Olivia flinched and moved away from his fingers. That only made Fitz grin. "Are you ticklish, Carolyn?"

"Nope," she lied.

"I think you're lying," he said, and proceeded to tickle her mercilessly. Fitz was up on his knees and had a firm grasp on Olivia's sides and tickled her, enjoying the sound of her laughter. He must have been enjoying it too much to pay attention, though, because the next thing he knew, the petite woman had him on his back with his arms pinned down by his sides. Fitz knew he could have easily over-powered her, but he was enjoying the feeling of Olivia's body straddling his too much.

"What makes you think I won't just flip you over and continue to tickle you, hmm?" He asked her, already knowing that he wouldn't.

"Because I'd just say "popcorn" and you'd have to stop," Olivia responded with one eyebrow raised high.

"Touché," Fitz said win a grin, a grin which Olivia readily returned. Looking at her perched above him, naked, with her hair tousled, her eyes bright with laughter, and the smile on her, took his breath away. He freed one arm from Olivia's hold and cupped her chin while his thumb stroked her cheek. "I can't get over how beautiful you are. You're perfect."

Olivia dipped her head and whispered 'thank you." Fitz didn't take her for being a shy person, so her response surprised him and made him want to know more about her and what made her tick. But, before he could say anything else, the shyness seemingly disappeared. "I think you're saying that because you want to get laid again," she declared and began rubbing her slit over his burgeoning erection.

"Well, I did promise you a round two, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did. And, I'm going to hold you to it!" With that, Olivia lowered her face to his and kissed him. Her hands framed his face as she proceeded to nip at his lips before pressing her lips firmly to his. Her tongue flicked against his lips, seeking entry which he readily gave. She kissed him for a long while because Olivia couldn't get enough of the feeling of his lips on her. Soon, though, she wanted to taste more of him and set out to do so. She trailed kisses down his body, stopping to lick his flat nipples. She licked and sucked his stomach and enjoyed the feeling of his abs twitching beneath her lips. Finally, her lips hovered over his erect penis.

Olivia flicked her eyes at Fitz and he could see the gleam in them. "I hope you don't say "popcorn", because I really want to taste you." At that, Fitz laughed, which was the exact reaction Olivia was going for. Laughter and joking during sex was a foreign concept to her, but one she found she liked.

"Carolyn, you don't have to worry about me saying "popcorn" right now."

"Good," Olivia said, right before she licked the tip of him. Her hands, mouth and tongue worked in concert, all to give him pleasure.

Fitz's enthusiastic moans and grunts only worked to spur Olivia on more. The suction of her mouth increased and Fitz's eyes almost rolled to the back of his head. Damn she was good at this. Too good. Sooner than Olivia would have liked, Fitz removed himself from her mouth. Olivia looked at him, her eyes questioning him, and in response he told her that he wanted to be inside her when he came again. His armed stretched out to grab a condom from the night stand. Olivia took the condom from him, and ripped open the packet with her teeth. Quickly, she rolled the condom onto Fitz's cock and wasted no time sinking her body onto his. Once he was buried in her to the hilt, she sighed, enjoying the feeling of fullness. Olivia threw her head back, moaning his name raggedly. Her hands were behind her and using Fitz's muscled thighs for leverage to make her movements good for the both of them. Over and over Olivia rose up, until he was almost fully out if her, and sank back down onto him. Her movements were hypnotic. Fitz had one hand on her hip and the other hand on her breast. He rolled her nipple between his thumb and index finger while watching his penis disappear into her over and over again.

While Fitz enjoyed the sight of Olivia's lithe form moving on top of him, he wanted to be on top of her so badly. So, he stilled her hips, and gently flipped her over, so that he lay on top of her cradled between her open legs. Though he was still inside of her, didn't automatically start moving his hips. Instead, he stared at Olivia. At first, she would not meet his eyes. One of his hands moved to cup her chin to lift up her face.

"Look at me," Fitz said. When she didn't, he tried once more. "Please, look at me."

The plea in his voice made Olivia do as he asked. When their eyes met, something clicked and passed through them. He skimmed his hand down Olivia's side and cupped her ass. Only then did he start moving, all the while never taking his eyes off of hers. Olivia looped her legs around Fitz's waist and moaned into his mouth. They were pressed together so tightly, his chest against hers, and so entwined with each other, that Olivia didn't know where her limbs stopped and his began. Fitz kept his thrusts slow and measured, and Olivia returned each one. They continued kissing, and they swallowed each other's shallow breaths and moans. Their closeness allowed for his pubic bone to rub against her clit, so her orgasm was imminent. She whispered against his lips that she was close and Fitz told her that he was right behind her. While this orgasm wasn't as explosive as the ones from earlier in the night, the sensual intimacy of what they shared just now made Olivia's orgasm more intense. And when he moaned her name, signaling his release, Olivia wished that she'd told him her first name. She wanted to hear him say "Olivia".

Once their shudders stopped, Fitz gingerly pulled himself out of Olivia's warmth. She hissed when he was fully out of her body, and sighed at the sudden feeling of emptiness. Fitz got up to dispose of the condom and clean himself up a bit. He stepped out of the bathroom and saw that Olivia was already under the covers waiting for him. Fitz turned off the room light, and, as he went to join Olivia in bed, he wondered how he'd gotten so lucky to be spending the night with a woman like her. He wanted - needed - more time with her. Fitz got into the bed and Olivia rolled over so that she could snuggle against his chest.

"I want to take you to breakfast in the morning. Is that ok with you?" Fitz asked her while running fingers through her hair. He only hoped that he didn't sound as nervous as he really was. His nerves disappeared, though, when Olivia kissed him sweetly on the mouth and told him that she'd love to have breakfast with him. Then, once again, she settled herself against him so that her head lay on his chest. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep.

* * *

When Olivia's eyes flickered open for the second time that morning, she was greeted by sunlight streaming through the open curtain and the feeling of Fitz's entwined with hers. Then came the panic. She had to leave - and leave soon. She could not be there when Fitz woke up.

Slowly she extricated herself from Fitz's sleeping form, which was slow going since they'd shifted during the night and now one of his hands had a good grip on her breast while one of his thighs was situated between hers. Once out of the bed, she stilled, waiting to see if Fitz would notice her absence. Luckily, he merely rolled over onto "his side" of the bed. Olivia didn't know if or when Fitz would wake up, so she quickly put on all of her clothes which lay in a heap on the floor at the foot of the bed. It took Olivia a few seconds to locate her clutch. Once she did, she searched it and pulled out a couple of hundred dollar bills. She had no idea how much the room cost, and knew the $400 in her hands may not cover half of the cost, but that was the best she could do right now. She walked softly to the nightstand near the empty side of the bed and left the money there. She thought of leaving the note with the money, but didn't want to risk making any noise digging in the drawers for the hotel's notepads.

After she picked up her shoes, she looked upon Fitz's sleeping form. He looked like a little boy, so angelic in his sleep. A part of her wished she could stay and wake him up to take her to breakfast as he promised. But Olivia knew that would be too risky. Who goes out to breakfast with a one night stand? And their second round of sex scared her. The first time between them was clearly _just_ sex. Or fucking. Or whatever. And why not have fun with someone you will never see again? Olivia had previously fantasized about giving up control and explicit language in the bedroom, but didn't want to risk embarrassment from anyone she was dating in case they judged her. She couldn't imagine her ex, staid Edison Davis, reacting too kindly to any of her suggestions. Tonight, Olivia got to live out that fantasy with Fitz and it was so _good_, better than she could have imagined. But the second time... The second time left Olivia with a spark of...something. It was something more intimate, as if feelings were involved. She felt like she and Fitz were making love. When she looked at him after he begged her to, she felt as if he was staring right into her mind and her soul. She felt the same, as if their minds melded and they made a connection. At the time she was in awe of that and was giddy that their time wasn't going to end immediately. But at the dawn of the day, she was frightened. Feelings were not what she needed right now. A connection was not what she needed right now in her life, especially with a one night stand - no matter how good he looked, smelled, and made her scream his name.

With that final thought, Olivia carefully made her way out of the room, slowly closing the door behind her. Only then did she hastily put on her shoes and head to the elevator. She pressed the down button a number of times, as if it would make the elevator come any faster than it would with just a single press of the button. When the elevator came, she hopped in and pressed the door close button immediately. Once in the hotel lobby, she walked through its exit and let the doorman hail her a cab. It didn't take long for a yellow cab to make its appearance. The morning traffic wasn't too bad, so Olivia made it back to the parking garage near the lounge fairly quickly. She rolled her eyes at the exorbitant cost of keeping her car overnight - that's Manhattan, for you - but handed over her credit card to take care of the transaction. Once in her car she took a deep breath. Olivia felt like she'd been running non-stop since she woke up, all so that she wouldn't have to face Fitz in the bright rays of the sun. She took some moments, but then shook the cobwebs out of her head, put the car in drive and then went home.

* * *

"Fitz, what the hell are you doing here? It's barely 9 A.M.!" Harrison said, his voice rough with sleep, all the while rubbing the crust out if his eyes. He stood to the side and let Fitz come in. Fitz, having been to Harrison's [Columbus Circle] apartment more times than he could count, made his way to the kitchen to scrounge up the makings for a simple breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs. Fitz looked into the cabinet that usually held coffee but found it empty.

"Where's the coffee?" Fitz called out at the same moment Harrison walked into the kitchen after having washed his face and brushed his teeth.

"Last week was tough, I almost OD'ed on coffee, was planning on restocking today.

"Well, at least you have some orange juice because it's too damn early for wine," said Fitz as he began to make them breakfast. It didn't take long and soon the pair were seated at Harrison's breakfast bar.

After a few bites of food, Harrison couldn't take it anymore. "So, do you plan on telling me what brought you over here so early in the morning to fix me breakfast? It's good food, don't get me wrong, but..." Harrison paused, remembering what happened last night. "Did something happen between you and that woman from last night? What's her name?"

Fitz swallowed a mouth full of orange juice. "Her name's Carolyn." Fitz paused before continuing. "Harrison, she left. She left before I woke up and didn't say a word."

"What do you mean she left?"

"I mean what I said. I woke up and she was gone. No note, no nothing. She left a couple hundred dollar bills on the night stand, presumably to help pay for the room. That was it," Fitz finished, and then bit off a piece of bacon. He sat and thought to himself for a moment, which Harrison let him do knowing that his friend had more to say but needed to figure out how to say it.

"I told her I wanted to take her out to breakfast, Harrison. After the second time..." he paused, gathering his thoughts once more. "There was something there, Harrison. At least I thought there was. I saw something in her. Something I didn't expect, especially with a one night stand situation. But I saw it, and wanted to prolong our time together. And, silly me, I thought she felt the same. She seemed excited about the idea of me taking her out for a legitimate meal. I don't know what happened," Fitz finished, running a hand through his still disheveled hair.

Harrison nodded and took everything in. "She didn't leave a note with the concierge either?"

Fitz shook his head. "When I went to the desk to check out, I made sure to ask. Nothing. So I left the hotel and just came straight here. Sorry for waking you up, but I needed to talk."

"You know it's not a problem." Harrison didn't know what to say to his friend. He hadn't seen his friend this taken with someone in quite a while. Fitz never lacked for female company when he wanted some. He could have more if put himself out there. But his friend was selective. Fitz had been engaged for a few years to Melody Hobbs - a former classmate of both Fitz and Harrison. Harrison never liked her, he found the woman to be too concerned with appearances and power. Yet, he wanted to be supportive. Harrison never came out and said that he didn't like Mellie, as she was called, and that he didn't support the idea of them getting married. But, he would ask Fitz certain leading questions to try and make him see that this was not a match made in heaven. Luckily, Fitz finally saw the light and broke off the engagement. But, for the last three years Harrison saw his friend in a type of relationship limbo that he didn't like. Now to hear Fitz actually being excited about a woman and that excitement not being returned made him hurt for his friend.

"I have to ask...are you sure this is not just a case you not having slaked all of your lust for her?"

"I've been wondering the same thing. I will admit that the sex was...out of this world, for lack of a better term," Fitz said. He saw Harrison smile and open his mouth, likely to ask for details. "I'm not telling you any more than that!"

Harrison laughed. "Why not, Fitz? It's not like you're going to see her again."

Fitz rolled his eyes. "The lust is still there, and if I saw her again, of course I'd want to be with her-sexually. But it's more than that. I think... I think she was special," Fitz explained before sighing. "Honestly, it's bugging me that I seemed to misread the situation so badly. I guess she was just humoring me."

The pair continued eating. When they were done, Harrison suggested that they go to the local park and play some basketball. Fitz thought once more of the woman with the doe eyes and beautiful smile and figured that a nice game of basketball was what he needed to get her off his mind.

* * *

**A/N:** **Check out this NSFW tumblr gif, which is how I sorta envisioned this version of Olivia and Fitz having their "a ha" moment while making love.**

delectatiomorosa dot tumblr dot com/post/40153540996


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Olivia made it back to her Brooklyn Heights apartment, she plugged her dead iPhone into its charger. Only then did it come to life, and she was immediately greeted by notifications of numerous text messages and several voice mail messages. Not in a hurry to read or hear the messages, she made her way to her bathroom. There, she took the time to gaze upon her reflection in mirror. What she saw made her tilt her head to the side due to a small measure of incredulity. Her hair was mussed, and had that "just fucked" look. Her eyes were still bright and glowed with mischief. Her already pouty lips looked plumper and bee stung due to all of Fitz's kisses. Anyone who saw her this morning in the hotel or at the parking garage would have been able to take one look at her and tell that she had to have been a very satisfied woman. Had Olivia spared even 10 seconds to check herself out before leaving as if she were an extra in Mission Impossible, she could have finger combed her hair and splashed water on her face and not have to deal with the embarrassment she now felt knowing that people saw her looking like this.

Oh well. The damage, real or imagined, had already been done. With that sobering thought, Olivia turned her shower on and began to strip. As soon as the hot spray of water hit her, she sighed. She was a fiend for a hot shower. Olivia, whose hair became curly once it was drenched in water, shampooed her hair first and then put on a shower cap after leaving conditioner on her hair. It was only as she began washing her body that she inspected it - and found her body littered with telltale marks from last night. They were all over her: her stomach, breasts, hips, inner thighs and even her ass showed evidence of what happened last night. Olivia's face flushed as she remembered being on her hands and knees with Fitz gripping her waist hard so that he had enough leverage to pound himself into her from behind. The vivid memory had an almost immediate effect on the rest of her body, as her breasts began to feel heavy and her nipples tightened. She felt an insistent throbbing between her legs that taunted her. She almost pleasured herself to the memory of Fitz's skilled ministrations of her body, but stopped herself. Olivia needed to forget what happened last night, and masturbating to those memories would not help her. Quickly Olivia washed herself, also washing away the remnants of Fitz's scent from her body, and then rinsed the conditioner from her hair.

Olivia dried herself and her hair before walking naked into her bedroom. She was about to deposit her dirty clothes into the appropriate containers for washing or dry cleaning as well as find something to put on when she heard her name being called.

"Olivia, are you here? I saw your car, you have to be here," she heard Alex yell.

"Auntie Libbia, where are you?" came the voice of Olivia's nephew, Jamison, who the family called Jamie..

This was the first time Olivia regretted giving her sister an emergency key to her apartment. Olivia hadn't planned on company, didn't want the company. But, she loved her sister and nephew and she would deal with her sister's inevitable prodding into her business for him. She called out to them, letting them know that she would be there in a minute. Olivia hurriedly dumped her dirty clothes into their appropriate bins and put on a long cotton robe. When she finally made her way out of the room and down the short hallway, Olivia found her sister in the kitchen area of the open floor plan apartment making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her three year old nephew.

"Hi buddy!" Olivia said as she walked over to Jamie, who was seated on a high stool at the breakfast bar. Immediately Jamie held out his chubby arms, motioning for his auntie to pick him up. Olivia had no problem obliging the little boy, who she picked up and spun around, delighting in his laughter. When they stilled, Jamie put his hands on Olivia's cheeks and brought her face down so that he could give her a peck on the lips.

"Auntie Libbia, Mommy said we had to come see you were still alive."

Olivia looked at her sister with raised eyebrow while Alex rolled her eyes at her son. Alex knew better than to say anything crazy in front of her son, who had a penchant for repeating things without regard to how it would embarrass his mother.

"Jamie, come over here and eat your breakfast," Alex said while walking into Olivia's living room. Alex had placed an old quilt on the floor for Jamie to sit on. Jamie sat, and Alex placed a breakfast tray over him. "Ok , Jaime, here's your sandwich, some orange juice and some grapes. And I'll put Doc McStuffins on for you, ok?"

"Ok, mommy, Thank you." Jamie titled his head and pursed his lips, letting his mom know that he wanted a kiss. Alex happily bent down and kissed her son and told him that she and Olivia would be talking in her bedroom.

After that, Alex wasted no time dragging her little sister to Olivia's bedroom. "Ok, little sister, tell me everything!, " Alex commanded, having taken a seat at the foot of Olivia's bed.

"There's nothing to tell Alex." Olivia didn't even want to see the knowing look on her sister's face. But, Olivia knew her sister wouldn't stop. Ever since they were children, Alex was the one who had no conception of a person choosing to keep their own counsel. She was nosy-and always proud of it. It drove Olivia nuts.

"You know I won't leave until you tell me. Oh, I've already let Quinn and Abby know that you aren't dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Alex stop with the dramatics, it's very unnecessary."

"No I won't. The three of us have been calling you, we were worried."

"It's not even 10:00 a.m.! You guys didn't even give me a chance to call any of you." Olivia was really starting to get irritated now, as she didn't enjoy being treated like a child-especially since her sister was only a year older than her.

"Look, I know you hate when people worry about you. I get it. But this was so unlike you, Liv, of course we were more worried than usual."

Olivia thought about that and was better able to understand all of their worry. She sighed and then smiled a small smile at Alex. "Ok, Alex, I get it. As you can see I'm still breathing. Now can you please get out for a few minutes so that I can get dressed."

Alex smiled a knowing smile at Olivia. "Why? You've never been shy of me seeing you naked before. And don't forget, it was fairly recent that you and I went skinny dipping, so you can't blame it on youth."

Olivia frowned. She knew what he sister was up to. While Olivia wasn't free with her nakedness, her sister was an exception. And Olivia knew that Alex knew she was hiding something. Once again Olivia sighed. She walked to her armoire and found a pair of panties and yoga pants, which she hurriedly put on without disrobing.

"You're going to have to take off your robe in order to put a top on," Alex said with an evil grin on her face. "Liv, I know what you're hiding. Does your body look like a road map?"

"You know it does, so I don't even understand why you're teasing me," Olivia said, her voice taking on a slight whine. Alex laughed again and told her sister that since she admitted it, Alex would close her eyes so that she could finish getting dressed. Alex kept her word and when her eyes opened, she saw Olivia standing in front of her in a loose t-shirt. Alex couldn't help it, though, and pointed out a few stray marks near Olivia's color bone, making Olivia blush once more and glare at her sister.

"Ok, Liv, spill! I've never seen you become so enamored with a guy so soon! And it looked like he was just as into you as you were into him if the few bite marks you allowed me to see is any indication."

Olivia couldn't control the small smile that found itself on her face. "Fitz is a good guy. A gentleman."

"I love the name Fitz. It suits him. Is it short for Fitzgerald or Fitzpatrick? Don't tell me it's short for Fitzhugh!"

"I have no idea, it never came up," Olivia said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What do you mean it never came up? Olivia, did you even tell him your first name?" At Olivia's sheepish look, Alex glared at her. "You're ridiculous, Olivia."

"Well, who's to say that Fitz is his real name?"

"Stop it. Who makes up a name like Fitz?"

"Good point," Olivia agreed with a smile.

"Show me see the rest of the pictures you and Fitz took last night." Olivia walked over to her nightstand and unplugged her iPhone, which had gotten up to a 35% charge. She punched in her pass code and pulled up the Photo app and gave the phone to her sister. She then joined her sister on the bed and rested her head on Alex's shoulder while Alex looked at the photos of her sister and Fitz.

"I left him this morning. Before he woke up." The words were quiet, almost shy.

"Did he hurt you?" Alex asked, already knowing that the answer would be "no", which Olivia immediately confirmed.

"It was too good. It scared me."

At that, Alex laughed. "It's supposed to be good, Liv. I knew Edison wasn't doing it right!" That made Olivia guffaw with laughter of her own.

"I don't mean that way, though Fitz knows what he's doing. He got me to do things I'd never..." Olivia trailed off, blushing. Alex decided not to bother her sister about it, at least not now.

"No. Alex there was something there. The second time we had sex, something passed through us. And he wanted to take me to breakfast this morning. It was too much, I couldn't deal with it."

Alex knew to tread lightly with her sister. Ever since their parents' divorce, Olivia became reticent in forming attachments to people. The fact that she had Quinn and Abby as friends was no small feat. As for dating, it took Olivia a long time to give men chances. Even when Olivia found herself in a relationship, she was never all in and kept a part of herself closed off. The fact that Olivia was scared of Fitz, seemingly scared that this could be something major, told the whole story to Alex. Given the rest of the photos of Olivia and Fitz, Alex could kind of see what her sister was frightened of. If Alex didn't know any better, she'd think that the pair in the photos was a long time couple. Fitz looked enamored with her sister and Olivia looked so alive and happy. The final two photos of the two of them kissing gave way to an intimacy that should have been impossible for a pair that had only met an hour or two before taking the photos.

"Sweetie, maybe he felt the same about you? Olivia, you know that, unlike our parents, if never tell you how to live your life. But, I'm worried about you. You've closed yourself off to so many of life's possibilities. I just want you to be happy," before Olivia could interrupted her, Alex kept going after resting the iPhone on the bed. "Not that you need a relationship to make you happy. But relationships do liven things up a bit and they can add a lot of color and character to your life. Look at me and Jared!" Alex finished, referencing her husband of seven years. They met while they were at school in Rhode Island, where Jared attended Brown University and Alex attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Jared, via the two schools' partnership allowing students to take classes at either schools, met Alex in her arts illustration class when Alex was 20 and Jared was 21. They'd been inseparable ever since.

"You're lucky that you have Jared. The two of you are so well suited for each other. Not everyone gets that lucky - look at our parents. Regardless, it doesn't matter. The odds of me seeing Fitz again are very low. Plus, it'd be embarrassing and awkward to run into a one night stand, don't you think?" asked Olivia, after having picked her head up from her sister's shoulder. Alex saw that Olivia was ready to end the conversation about Fitz, so she just smiled and her sister and gave her a quick pat on the knee.

"We better go see what Jamie is doing. Hopefully he hasn't ruined your living room!" Alex stood up and waited for Olivia to follow her. "When are you going to baby sit for me again, hmmm? Jared and I need a night out and you know Jamie loves his "Auntie Libbia." The pair walked out to find Jamie's plate spotless, his cup empty, and the little boy still engrossed in television.

"As soon as my schedule clears up, I'll be glad to keep him. Jamie, you and I can have a slumber party, how does that sound?"

"Yay! You always let me eat lotsa cookies, Auntie Libbia!" said a grinning Jamie.

Olivia quickly walked over to tickle him. "Jamie! That was our secret!" Olivia exclaimed, laughing at she tickled her nephew. When she finished tickling him, Olivia planted a big noisy kiss on his mouth. "You want to go to the park, little man?" At his affirmative head shake, the trio got all of their stuff together (with Olivia making sure to cover her still damp tresses and scalp) and headed to a nearby park. This way, Olivia got to spend time with the most important members of her family and keep her over active mind off of Fitz.

* * *

From the moment she woke up, Olivia knew that she was going to have a crappy day. First of all, it was Monday, and who likes Mondays? Due to forgetting to set her alarm clock and a very vivid dream about she and Fitz's sexual exploits from the weekend, she overslept by almost an hour. While in a hurry to make herself some tea, Olivia knocked over a wine glass in her kitchen and sliced her right index finger on a shard of glass. On top of that, a sick passenger on the train in front of hers cause her train to sit in the tunnel for an additional ten minutes. To say Olivia was in a pissy mood when she finally reached her office was an understatement.

She was lost in thought in her efforts to get settled and catch up on various emails and did not hear the knocking on her door. It wasn't until her secretary, Cynthia, reminded her about her 12:30 p.m. settlement discussion meeting with her client, opposing counsel and their client in an effort to avoid costly and timely litigation of an alleged wrongful and discriminatory termination. It was was 12:15 p.m. and her client's representative was already seated in the conference room. Again, this day couldn't get worse. She had five minutes to quickly refresh herself of the issues and then another few minutes to go over the settlement cap with her client. Olivia was quick and efficient, however, and was able to get this done with two minutes to spare before being notified that her adversary and their client were being brought up to the conference room.

"Mark, everything will be fine. You're general counsel, so you know the deal. Let me take the lead with the discussions and feel them out. They'll probably go away quietly," Olivia said to Mark Ellis, who was seated next to her. Olivia was quite confident in the prediction she gave to Mark, the general counsel of her client Starlight Concessions. Starlight had been a client of the Firm's for a few years, so Mark was quite confident in Olivia's declaration.

"Olivia. Mr. Grant and Ms. Lawson are here," came Cynthia's voice from the room's intercom. Olivia pressed the speak button and told Cynthia to show them in.

"Ready?" Olivia asked Mark, and he nodded in return.

Olivia stood up when she saw the door begin to open and walked toward it. Cynthia came in first. And then Olivia thought she saw a ghost and knew that her day just became infinitely worst when Cynthia introduced Fitzgerald Grant and his client Veronica Lawson. Fitz...her Fitz that she dreamed about stood before her but on the opposite of their legal matter.

I hate Mondays, Olivia thought to herself.

* * *

**A/N: Shout out to everyone in NYC who has ever gotten stuck in the tunnels due to the dreaded sick passenger. Ugh, they are the worst!**

**Hope you liked the update. Leave me some reviews! Also, I hope that 2014 treats all of you right! xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

"It's nice to meet you, Fitzgerald. I'm Olivia. Olivia Pope."

Olivia stuck out her hand to shake Fitz's, all the while hoping her greeting was steady and did not betray her shock or nerves. She already knew that the momentary look of shock on her face, the look that took some seconds to disguise, gave away her surprise at seeing him at her firm, ready to do battle for his client. Yet, it seemed like Fitz didn't notice her surprise or recognize her. His face - his handsome face - wore a polite smile as he shook her hand in greeting. His smile faltered slightly when their hands touched and Olivia realized he was looking at her hand. She'd forgotten that she had put a large band aid on her finger due to the cut.

"I had a little accident this morning," explained Olivia.

"It happens to the best of us. Hopefully you didn't hurt yourself too badly." The smile returned in its full glory.

After the second round of introductions, the four of them began to settle and make themselves comfortable for the ensuing settlement discussions. Yet, Olivia was anything but comfortable. What bothered her the most in the first few minutes of introductions and civil pleasantries was that Fitz didn't appear to remember her. He gave her no indication that they'd spent Saturday night pressed against each other on the dance floor or pressed against each other's naked body in a hotel room overlooking Central Park. Was it the name switch? A part of Olivia did regret not telling him that her name was Olivia. But, still, she looked the same, didn't she? While Olivia realized her appearance was more understated, she still found herself to be recognizable as the red lipped bombshell from Saturday night. Today she wore black trouser pants, a pale pink shell, and a black blazer. Because she was late, she pulled her hair back into a severe bun and wore her glasses instead of contacts. Olivia generally didn't make a habit of wearing heave makeup, but usually wore enough for its presence to be known. Not today - her lateness meant that she only had time for some mascara and tinted lip gloss. Essentially, she was an even more muted version of herself - but she was still her, and he should have recognized her. Fitz, with sexy curls that made her want to run her hands through them, in his black suit, crisp white shirt, red tie with thin blue stripes looked like a more professional version of his Saturday self.

Was he that shallow that her appearance today wasn't worth him taking another look? Did she look so different - so plain - that his memory banks didn't start churning with thoughts of their night together, regardless of her introduction as Olivia? While she wasn't narcissistic in the least, her self-esteem was really taking a blow, which made Olivia laugh. She should be happy that he didn't seem to recognize her. Or, did he recognize her but just didn't care enough to make a big production out of it? Either way, this was better for the both of them. The fact that they'd slept together - though unknowingly - and were now on opposite sides of the bench was brought forth such an ethical quandary. In addition to work ethics, what would remembering her accomplish? It was one night, with no promises of forever. That final thought made her come to her logical senses and steel herself for the possible battle ahead.

Across the table, Fitz made himself and his client comfortable in the conference room. He said a silent "thank you" to Harrison for making sure he became a better poker player. Harrison drilled him on various techniques of the game, but most importantly, Harrison made sure that Fitz developed the best poker face imaginable. Plus, Harrison had told him, having a poker face is key for a lawyer, especially one that will often end up in the courtroom. Fitz, who never made it a habit to use this poker face in his personal life, slipped it on today as he saw his personal life and work life merge in a way that he'd never imagined.

He was thrown for a loop when she introduced herself as Olivia Pope. His momentary confusion was replaced by annoyance and anger at the fact that Olivia had given him a fake name. Quickly, flashes of him moaning "Carolyn" came to the forefront of his mind, as well as him throwing caution to the wind and asking her out for breakfast. The memory of waking up alone and greeted by money still stung. As he told Harrison, he chose to believe that the money was Carolyn's - no, Olivia's way of paying for the room and not just treating him a sex worker. Even now, with this sizable lie between then, he still gave her the benefit of the doubt. Plus, he wondered if this was the universe giving him a second chance at developing whatever it was he felt there was between them.

While exchanging pleasantries, Fitz took a subtle survey of Olivia. Here in the light of day and at her place of work, she had a more muted appearance. The glasses, the tight bun, the bit of gloss on the lips...Olivia had the look of a young sexy librarian. He wanted to see her take off her glasses and release her tresses from their confines with a shake of her head. The image was arousing to say the least, and Fitz doused them quickly so as not to embarrass himself in front of their clients. Instead, he focused on the clients and Olivia and figured that in the midst of zealously representing his client, he could have some fun too. He was great at multitasking.

Olivia, always preferring to set the tone for any type of settlement discussions, decided to begin.

"So, let me start by saying that I understand that tensions are high and there have been some misunderstandings adding to the stress of this situation." Fitz nodded, and Olivia continued. "Based on my findings and discussions with the parties involved on my clients end, we are prepared to offer Ms. Lawson a $10,000 settlement, in addition to requiring her to sign both a non-disclosure agreement and a settlement agreement stating that Starlight admits no wrong doing or liability"

Fitz wanted to laugh. Instead, he decided to play. "C'mon, Olivia, I know you can do better than that."

Olivia's eyes flared and narrowed and the beginnings of a flush made its way to her cheeks. _"C'mon sweetheart, I know you can do better than that... Open for me." _"Excuse me?" He couldn't have said what she thought he did...right? By the look of the gleam in his eye and small smirk on his face, Olivia knew that Fitz said what he said on purpose. So he _did_ remember her!

"What is it that you think I can do better, Fitzgerald?" Olivia asked before Mark could interject and possibly throw off her game.

"That's a low ball figure. My client and I estimate that her settlement should be not less than $350,000 in both punitive and compensatory damages, which the compensatory damages would include economic loss as well as the pain and suffering that impacted Ms. Lawson."

Forgetting all of his vast legal experience, Mark yelled out "That's preposterous!"

"Exactly what's preposterous about that, Mr. Ellis? You fired my client -"

"New York is an at-will employment state, we can fire her any time we want." Mark retorted smugly.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. And I'm also aware, and I'm sure you are as well, that while an employer is free to terminate an employee for cause or no reason at all, an employer is not allowed to terminate an employee for reasons that are discriminatory. You fired my client due to her race and pregnancy, which violates many civil rights anti-discrimination laws." Fitz finished, with an eye on Veronica. Veronica, who was a 7 month pregnant 24 year old black woman, looked across the table at her adversaries and tried her hardest not to voice her anger.

"On what facts do you base that information?" Olivia questioned, disbelievingly, with a raised brow.

"Perhaps the fact that Ms. Lawson has stellar reviews and evaluations during the four and a half years that she worked in the Starlight corporate offices until she informed her supervisor that she was pregnant."

Olivia read from the notes she'd had the foresight to prepare. "My research shows that Ms. Lawson's punctuality and attendance at work began to suffer. In addition, her work product became sub-par."

"That's not what happened! I had a doctor's note for every time I had to miss work or come late! And, I always had someone to cover the phones or the desk!" Veronica yelled out, more than upset that her work ethic was being questioned.

Fitz quieted Veronica and continued along Veronica's train of thought. "My client's physician had spoken to her immediate supervisor on more than one occasion to ensure that he was aware of the added complications to the pregnancy, which required additional monitoring."

Olivia knew this was a sticky point and countered by noting that an employer is not legally required to let slide excessive lateness and absences due to pregnancy. While this was true, Fitz countered with the names of three white female employees who'd been pregnant during Veronica's time at Starlight who had more than the usual amount of lateness and absences due to pregnancy and suffered no ill consequence. Fitz also dropped a bomb and mentioned another employee, this time a Hispanic woman, who was fired a few months after informing her supervisor that she was pregnant. Olivia took all of this in with a blank face, but internally she knew that this was a big problem. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mark's Adam's apple move up and down as he swallowed with each bomb Fitz dropped.

"So, as you can see," Fitz continued, "we think $350,000 is more than fair, and, in my opinion, is likely less than a jury would award if we found ourselves in court."

"Well, that is a chance we are willing to take. We are ready to defend my client's history and reputation as a fine place for all women to work." Olivia was firm in her declaration while she seethed on the inside. Wires had to have been crossed, as she'd never heard of any of the names Fitz mentioned.

"Well then I think that's all for today, as we've reached an impasse." Fitz stood up and then helped Veronica to her feet. Veronica was pissed, and didn't even try to pretend that she would shake Olivia or Mark's hands. She said goodbye and told Fitz she would wait for him in the building's lobby. Mark shook Fitz's hand and told Olivia that they should have a call that afternoon, to which Olivia agreed. Finally, Olivia and Fitz were left alone. He made no move to come closer to her, but instead he eyes her up and down with the eyes of a man who knew her - biblically.

"Well, I always promise my adversaries a round two," Fitz said as he stuck out his hand to shake Olivia's and subtly rubbed his thumb across the baby soft skin of Olivia's hand. "I'm sure we'll talk again _very _soon."

"I'm sure we will, Fitzgerald." The breathy tenor of the words would have embarrassed Olivia if she didn't see the same look in Fitz's eye that he had when he first told her to dance with him. His "round two" served to make her remembered the feeling of moving her body like a graceful ballerina on top of him, the memory which Fitz probably wanted to inspire by using those words. Finally, Fitz let go of her hand and left, but not before telling Olivia to make sure she took care of her hand. It was only after Fitz left that Olivia breathed deeply in both relief and panic.

* * *

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Olivia slammed her office door and took advantage of having her own office by yelling out strings upon strings of expletives. She couldn't believe how this day was shaping up. On top of the fact that it was now appearing very possible that her client discriminated against Veronica Lawson, Fitz was Lawson's attorney. And even worse, he was cocky enough to use the same words that he used to her on Saturday. What was worse is that she was aroused by him and he knew it. She wished that she could have pulled Fitz to her and mash her body against his and kiss him for all she was worth. The fact that he didn't seem angry with her left her excited and scared all at the same time. How could this be her life?

Olivia sat at her desk and sent an email to the junior associate assigned to help her and told her to start drafting responses to the complaint and discovery requests. She also called the head of Human Resources at Starlight asking for all information regarding their pregnant employees who'd been fired or left of their own volition. She had to determine herself whether there was a pattern of discrimination against the female employees of color who became pregnant.

Engrossed, Olivia was really hitting a stride and had just scheduled a call with Mark when her intercom buzzed and Cynthia's voice came through. "Olivia, I'm sorry but she wants to see you."

After rolling her eyes heavenward, Olivia told Cynthia to let her know that she'd be right up. She stood up and smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her attire. She said hello to some of the people she passed as she walked to the stairwell. Walking up the two flights, she tamped down the preemptive annoyance that threatened to reveal itself. She didn't need added crap today. Out of the stairwell, she walked around a number of secretary stations and closed doors that housed attorneys either deep in work or needing some down time. She walked until she reached the third corner office on the floor. Without knocking, she opened the door and walked into the spacious office, closing the door behind her. Sitting at the large mahogany desk that was ordered and neat with files and papers, sat one of the named partners of her firm - Maya Lewis. Instead of seeing a partner, though, Olivia only saw an overbearing, demanding and controlling mother.

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**A/N: Once again, thank all of you so much for the wonderful response to this story! It's blowing my mind. So, now y'all will see where the "War" is coming from. But, this is Olitz...so, know that the war will be both professional (to a certain extent. While I am an attorney, I don't practice employment law, so I'm not likely to go in depth with the legal aspect of the story. I plan to give y'all just enough of that to add to the story and sexual tension) and personal as they go to war over each other's hearts!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Special thanks to Cakes and Lauren for being sounding boards for the story. Also, thanks so much for all of the reviews, especially those that provide theories and questions! Sometimes they give me something extra to think about in terms of future chapters. Also, I suck at physically describing adults. So, for Alex and Jared, think Renee Goldsberry and Charles Michael Davis.**

* * *

Maya Lewis didn't notice her daughter standing in front of her due to the schmoozing she was currently taking part in with some unknown person on the other end of the phone. It was only when she flicked her eyes up momentarily that she saw her daughter standing off to one side of the office with her arms folded in front of her.

"Harold, I'll have to call you back...thank you, same to you. Give my best to Deirdre." Maya hung up the phone and looked at Olivia with a speculative eye. "I haven't seen you in your glasses in years."

"I was running late this morning and didn't feel like being bothered with my contacts."

Maya clucked her teeth. "Or your makeup or your hair, it seems."

"There's nothing wrong with my hair or makeup. I look professional either way." Olivia countered.

"Yes, you do, but your face skews younger. It's a blessing, to be sure, but you should use the accoutrements of the right hair and makeup to put people on notice that you aren't a teen, but a well-seasoned attorney."

"People will think what they want, mom. If anything, my more youthful -according to you - appearance could serve to lead some to underestimate me, which would only aid in me going for the kill." Maya nodded at Olivia's reasoning and Olivia mentally put a +1 in the Olivia versus Maya score sheet.

"I didn't ask to see you because of your hair, though. Have a seat." Maya pointed to one of the cushy arm chairs in front of her desk. Olivia sat, more wary than curious as to why her mom wanted to see her.

"I want to talk to you about Starlight. They're a very important client. How did the settlement negotiation go?"

Olivia let out a huff of air. "Not well. It seems that our client has not been completely forthright in all of the information they provided." Olivia explained the bombshells dropped in their settlement meeting.

"No, this isn't good. I believe Mark mentioned that their new HR director is new, so that could be a part of the reason why this information was unknown to us. However, as general counsel, Mark should have been aware of this too." Maya paused. "It can't be as open and shut, as this, though. Find whatever you can about the other terminations - perhaps they _were_ terminated for cause. Olivia, I don't have to tell you how important Starlight is as a client. Their yearly billables are very high. And that figure they want is ridiculous. Robert Davis is out of his mind!"

"Actually, Robert Smith is no longer Ms. Lawson's attorney. The firm sent Fitzgerald Grant, instead."

"Fitzgerald Grant? Interesting. I'm surprised the firm gave him this case, he's slightly more senior than you are, but that shouldn't pose a problem, especially given your background. I know you were prepared for Robert, it must have been a shock when you saw Fitzgerald instead."

Her mother didn't know how big of a shock it was and Olivia wasn't going to tell her. "Yes, I expected Robert, but Fitzgerald seems both competent and fair. There should be no problems from that perspective."

Maya nodded. "Good. Keep me abreast of what's going on with the case. It would be better if we settle because the press generated by going to court could be disastrous from a PR angle." Maya took a few seconds to look at her daughter. "I'm happy you're back, Olivia. I know we haven't been able to really sit down and talk since you moved back two months ago. I'm hoping that we can have dinner one night at my home, sooner rather than later of course. It would also be nice if your sister and Jared came as well."

"And dad?"

"If you feel the need to have your father there, then fine, he can come too." Maya huffed out. "Regardless, I feel like there's so much that you and I need to catch up on since you've been in D.C. for long. I'm happy you finally saw reason and realized that your place is here."

Olivia was about to make a remark about her seeing "reason" but she let it go and smiled. She was going to try. This was a good thing. It was the start of a whole new chapter in her life. "I'm happy I'm back too, mom. Just let me know when you want to have dinner and I'll let Alex know, ok? I need to go, I have a to discuss a pro bono case with a junior associate as well as try to get to the bottom of what's going on at Starlight. I'll keep you apprised of the latter."

Once behind the closed doors of her office, Olivia had Cynthia order her a nice seasonal strawberry arugula salad with walnuts and blue cheese. Due to her lateness and needing to catch up with some client matters, she didn't have the time to go out for lunch. She sent Quinn a text message, telling her that she had to cancel lunch. Quinn, being a busy ad-woman herself, understood though she was looking forward to grilling Olivia about her and Fitz's tryst.

While she ate, a first year associate explained the pro bono case they decided to take on, to which Olivia would supervise. The associate seemed on top of things, however, with Olivia only needing to subtly guide them toward the resources they would need to get started. After that, Olivia was able to speak with Amanda Clayton, the current head of HR at the Starlight corporate offices. Olivia's mother was right, Amanda did start recently, and was not truly aware of the other pregnant women Fitz claimed were fired for discriminatory reasons. After being assured that all information about those terminations would be faxed over as soon as possible, Olivia decided that it was time to learn about her adversary.

Pushing the remnants of her salad aside, Olivia pulled up Fitz's profile on his firm's website. He was very impressive, having graduated from Harvard undergrad and law school. In between that, he was a Rhodes Scholar and spent two years at Oxford getting his . He must have worked for a year after that given the small gap that led to him graduating a year later than she would have expected. Given his write up, Fitz had been at his firm since graduating. There were links to many articles that he had co-written, many of which dealt with employment law but he had a robust amount of articles about white collar crime and a few about tort litigation. It definitely appeared like Fitz was on his firm's partner track.

Fitz would definitely be a worthy adversary, Olivia thought to herself, but she knew she wasn't too shabby either. The trilling of her iPhone interrupted her thoughts. Looking at the screen, she didn't recognize. "Hello?' She was waiting for the right time to tell the caller that he or she had the wrong number.

"You know, I must say, I definitely think Olivia suits you more than Carolyn. You seem a bit too fiery for a name like "Carolyn"." Fitz stated on the other end of the line.

"Perhaps that's why my parents changed their minds at the last minute and gave me Carolyn as a middle name instead of a first name as they originally intended." The words flowed out of her mouth easily. When Fitz told her that they would speak very soon, Olivia didn't think it would be the same day.

"Ah, so is that your way of letting me know that you _technically_ didn't lie about your name being Carolyn?" he asked her, his voice not giving away whether he was mad or annoyed or if he didn't care.

"No, just stating a fact. Even if I did lie, it doesn't really matter. It was a one night stand - we had sex and that was it. We weren't even supposed to see each other again." She couldn't help getting defensive, despite his lack of tone. Who did he think he was?

"Twice."

"Twice what?" Olivia demanded, her confusion evident.

"We had sex twice," Fitz corrected. "And, it would have been three times if I didn't wake up alone because you decided you wanted to pull a disappearing act." The derision in Fitz's voice when he said "disappearing act" was very evident. The flirty and direct Fitz from the day's earlier negotiation definitely did not tell the whole story behind Fitz's true feelings about seeing her again. He was mad, and if Olivia wasn't imagining it, hurt.

"Well, Fitz, I'm sorry that I interrupted your plans of having another orgasm not assisted by your hand. Regardless, my previous point still stands." She said, not caring about his anger or hurt. "Wait a minute - how did you get my cell number? I don't recall giving it to you." Olivia demanded, her tone going from anger to curious.

Fitz laughed. "From the working group list that was sent around, how else?" Olivia had forgotten about the working group list, a list of all of the players in this potential lawsuit. "The list has to be updated, of course," Fitz continued, "since it had Bob Smith's information on it. I'll have an updated version sent to your team with my contact information added shortly."

"Thank you," was all Olivia could say.

"You're welcome. In the meantime, you now have my cell number, so add it to your contacts."

"And why exactly would I do that?"

"You'll do it so that the next time I call you and ask for a date, you'll know it's me calling and you can just say yes," he responded in a tone that wasn't full of anger, but a tone that spoke of him being sure of himself about the fact that Olivia _would_ accept a date with him.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Fitzgerald. I will not being saying yes to any dates with you - now or ever." There was a finality in her voice that shocked both Olivia and Fitz.

"Why?" The one syllable word question was said softly and hung in the air for seemingly long moments.

"Because, Fitz, us dating being wholly unethical given our current legal circumstance. It's inappropriate."

"Well, lets be inappropriate!" his winsome voice almost made Olivia smile.

"Not, lets not be inappropriate. Regardless of ethics, I just can't."

"Why?" Fitz asked again, his voice firmer. "Olivia, I know that we both went into that night with our eyes open and that it was supposed to be one night of release. But," Fitz paused, wondering how far he should go, how honest he should be. "I felt something with you. Something extraordinary. That's why I wanted to take you to breakfast. I wanted to see if that connection was still there in the light of day. And you seemed so happy with the idea, too. What changed? Why did you leave without a word, without more than a few hundred dollars on the night stand? I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt that it was to cover some of the room and not just paying me for my services, but -"

"No! No! Please, it had nothing to do with me wanting to pay you for your services. I didn't know how much the room cost and I did feel like I should pay my share." Feeling that Fitz was ready to interrupt her, Olivia added, "And I know that it wasn't necessary, but I wanted to."

"Did I imagine a connection between us that second time? Or even this morning in the meeting? When I touched your hand before I left, it seemed like you were happy to see me."

Now, it was Olivia's turn to decide whether she should be honest or lie. "I was happy to see you due to a sense of shock at the coincidence and out of the serendipity of it all. As for a connection," Olivia paused once more, remembering both Alex's words and her own fear. "I don't know that I would call it a connection. While something could have grown from our night together, I do think us going our separate ways was the best decision. So, can we forget that night and just worry about the case?" Olivia was careful not allow the whine of a plea to infiltrate her voice.

The silence went on for one minute. Olivia actually looked at her phone to make sure they weren't disconnected. She was about to call Fitz's name when he finally spoke.

"Ok, Olivia. That's fine." He abruptly hung up on her, leaving Olivia to stare at her iPhone in shock.  
She was still holding it and replaying her and Fitz's conversation when her office phone rang. Putting her phone down, she reached for her office phone, announcing herself when she picked up.

"Olivia Pope, it's Fitzgerald Grant. I wanted to touch base with you regarding our earlier in person settlement discussion."

"What? Fitz, what are you -"

"Fitzgerald, please. Since we will now only be talking about the case at hand, I wanted to speak from our respective work phone numbers. Is that a problem?"

To say Olivia was taken aback was an understatement. The warmth and feeling in Fitz's voice while they spoke on their personal phones was gone, to be replaced by Fitz in full attorney mode. "No, not a problem, Fitzgerald. What did you want to discuss?"

"I really think that you and your client should seriously consider my client's settlement conditions. Of course, she would sign a NDA as a condition to the settlement," Fitz stated calmly.

"I thought I made it clear that my client would not consider your client's terms at this time. While we would like to avoid litigation, we are not prepared to immediately hand over $350,000 without having done more research regarding the other employees you made us aware of," Olivia countered, her confidence clear and forceful.

"What exactly do you hope to find? And you need to think about how a jury would take all of this information," was Fitz's retort.

To be sure, Olivia was aware of the potential optics if they ever ended up in court. A jury could be unpredictable and often focused on silly things like the height of her heels or the color of a tie or dress. Also, how would it look to a jury to see her, a young black woman, representing the interests of a corporate conglomerate with its white general counsel by her side versus a young black woman being defended by her white male attorney? That was an added component that Olivia would definitely have to consider.

"As it's my duty to zealously defend my client to the best of my abilities, I will go through as much discovery whatever I need in order to prioritize their interest. I'm sure if the situations were reversed, you would do the same, correct?"

Fitz could do nothing but agree. "Fine. Should we schedule a one on one call sometime next week? Lets say next Tuesday?"

"I have a deposition to prepare for next week. How about the following Tuesday?"

"Fine. I will speak to you then, Olivia, unless something pressing comes up before that time. Have a good day."

"Same to you, Fitzgerald."

When their second phone call ended, Olivia let out a breath. She did the right thing. Besides from the ethics of the situation, Olivia had just moved back to NYC recently. She was trying to establish herself at the firm. She didn't have time to date anyone, and there was no need to lead Fitz on further than she had by accepting his breakfast date. This was right.

Yet, even though she knew she was right, her sister's words were on repeat in her head._ You've closed yourself off to so many of life's possibilities. I just want you to be happy. _Olivia picked up her iPhone and scrolled through her photos, looking at the pictures she and Fitz took together. The picture of she and Fitz kissing called to her, before she squashed those feelings. "I am happy," Olivia said aloud before she deleted the pictures and then continued with her work.

On the other side of town, Fitz sat quietly at his desk. He felt a sense of lost, but it was momentary. His eyes went to his desktop flat screen, which still had Olivia's firm profile up. She was smart and driven. After graduating from Princeton, she took no time off and went straight to the Georgetown University Law Center, where she graduated Order of the Coif. She clerked for a year, worked for the Department of Labor, and worked in private practice in D.C. all before coming back to New York. Combining her résumé with what she said in the hotel, Fitz estimated that she'd only moved back less than three months ago. And, it wasn't lost on him that she was now working at her mother's law firm.

His office phone rang. "Yea?" There was no need for a formal greeting, as the caller id let Fitz know that it was Harrison calling.

"Fitz, quick question," Harrison said, and provided some background for one of his consulting problems trying to better its hiring and employment practices. Harrison, having only ever practiced corporate law, knew the basics of employment issues. He had a general idea of what his client should do, but wanted to run it by Fitz to be sure.

"Harrison, I'd do exactly what you laid out. Sounds like a solid plan, very good from my standpoint as it concerns employment issues."

"Good. Just wanted to make sure. Anyway, how's the day going? You feeling better? After our game, you were still a bit down in the dumps."

"And I'm still there. I saw her today, Harrison."

"Wait! Where?"

Fitz gave a small chuckle. "I went to her firm. She's representing Starlight in my client's discrimination claim against them."

Harrison whistled. "Small world, man. I honestly didn't think you'd ever see her again."

"I wished that I would run into her, but not like this. Plus..." Fitz gave Harrison of the rundown of his conversation with Olivia. "She pretty much gave me the brush off."

He made sure to not let it show in his tone, but Harrison was pissed. "Forget her, Fitz. She doesn't know what she's missing out on. Okay? I told you a while ago that you should let me set you up with this woman that works with me. I think you'd like her."

"Well, why don't you date her, then?" Fitz asked, laughing.

"Because you know I'm a free spirit. Plus, you're an old man looking to settle down!"

"I'm only a few years older than you!"

"It doesn't matter." Harrison laughed, happy his friend sounded in slightly better spirits.

"I'll think about letting you set me up. Anyway, I have to go. If we can clear our schedules, lets meet up and watch the game on Friday, ok?"

"Sure, talk to you later. Take it easy, Fitz."

Who knows, Fitz thought to himself, a date may be a good thing.


	7. Chapter 7

"Good evening. I'm expected at the Lewis residence."

The doorman of Maya's Upper East Side condo had Olivia sign in while he called Maya's residence to announce Olivia's presence. An elevator ride and a few moments later, Olivia stood outside her mother's apartment, waiting for someone to let her in. She was happy to see Jared open the door, as he was a last reprieve before going into this dinner whose outcome was never predictable.

"Olivia! It's good to see you. Give me a hug." Before she knew it, she was wrapped in a big bear hug. She kissed his cheek while he whispered to her that everything would be ok. They exchanged their own personal small talk as they walked into her mother's "spacious for NYC" dining room. There, she saw her sister sitting with Jamie on her lap, her mother and her father Eli Pope.

When Olivia suggested that her mother unite her father for dinner a few days ago, she thought it was a good idea. She figured she could kill two birds with one stone and have her sister and brother in law there for back-up if needed. Now, Olivia wasn't so sure if her "good idea" was actually a good idea. The ever imposing Eli Pope was seated at the head of the table - even though it wasn't his home. Knowing her mother, Olivia figured her mother saw the seating arrangement and purposely decided to let it go. Though the former spouses were nowhere close to being friends, they maintained a sort of surface civil relationship. They didn't do this because they shared two children, they did it because they shared a law firm. Pope Lewis LLC had been dream of her parents (and a third person who later sold his shares of the firm to Maya and Eli). They worked, toiled and slaved away to make a name for themselves in the often over saturated glut of law firms. Yet, they did it. It took some years, but the firm was a formidable force in the legal industry.

It was when the firm had a firm foothold on the legal industry that her parents divorced. They argued bitterly, and Olivia and Alex were often in the middle and fought over until Alex went to boarding school and Olivia followed her a year later. Boarding school was like a reprieve from being the "prize" in a constant tug of war between her parents. Despite fighting over the kids, keepsakes and the like, neither Maya nor Eli fought over the firm. No, they would run it together, because neither one was willing to sell their share of the firm. Thus, they had to make it work - their success and up from the bootstraps story was very important to them to uphold. Somehow they found a work balance. Today, the firm focused its legal energies on the three major US markets, NYC, Los Angeles and D.C., and had a thriving office in each city. And, years later, Eli and Maya were able to be in the same room and exchange pleasantries without taking steps to kill the other.

Pope Lewis LLC was a dominant force. A few years ago, however, Eli decided to take more of a backseat in favor of being an adjunct professor at both Columbia and NYU. He still took on at least one new matter year, but he preferred to spend his time either teaching or bringing in clients for the firm. Since moving back to NYC, Olivia hadn't seen her father, though they exchanged a few emails her and there. She wasn't sure what they would even talk about. On top of dealing with her parents, her sister was currently very angry with her due to a heated argument they'd had earlier in the week.

* * *

After leaving the office at the "early" time of 7:56 p.m., Olivia didn't want to go home, not yet anyway. She decided to go visit her sister and nephew. Olivia figured that her sister would like the company since Jared was working another of his long night at NYU's Medical Center as an ER doctor. Olivia was right of course; Alex and Jamie welcomed the surprise of having her there, and her sister made her sit down at the small dining room table and enjoy a nice home cooked meal. Olivia loved her sister's apartment. It was as bright, colorful and whimsical as her sister was in real life. The decor of the apartment didn't shock Olivia, though, due to her sister's profession. Her sister was a very popular children's book illustrator who was noted for her wide color pallet. Sitting at the table with her sister, Alex updated Olivia about her latest project. After much prodding from Jared, Alex finally shopped around children's book of her own. Then final draft was in and Alex told Olivia that there would soon be an advanced reader copy for her to check out. Olivia was proud of her sister for marching to the beat of her own drum and following her passion for art.

After updating Olivia about work and Jaime's sudden interest in trains, she asked Olivia about her week and if there were any plans for the weekend.

"Mom wants us to all come over for dinner. I know it's short notice, but can you and Jared so Friday?"

"Ugh. Do I have to? Look, excuse me if I'm not excited about the prospect of this. I still can't believe you dropped your life in D.C. all because mom guilted you into working for her. You must be a masochist."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "That's neither here nor there. Can you two make it?"

"I can't remember Jared's schedule off the top of my head. Even if he's not free, I'll go just to keep you company. But if mom and dad start badgering me to cut Jaime's hair, I may go off. Fair warning." Olivia and Alex turned their heads simultaneously to look at Jaime who was in the living room busy building some sort of castle with building blocks. His little face, which Olivia was sure wore a look of intense concentration, was partially obscured by the hair in question. Despite being three years old, Alex had yet to cut her son's hair. It was soft, curly and shoulder length. Alex often kept it braided, but tonight it was lose. Her sister thought it was precious, and hated had no problems with it. Their parents were another issue, with Maya and Eli both commenting separately and together, that Jaime looked like a thug in the making and that Alex wasn't raised that way. Suffice it to say, Olivia understood Alex's warning.

"Anything else, little sister? Speak now while I'm in a good mood."

"Well, there is something..." Olivia began.

"What? Jaime, it's time for bed. Go brush your teeth and wash your face and I'll come tuck you in."

Jaime stopped playing with his blocks and walked to Olivia. "Auntie Libbia, read me a bedtime story please!" Olivia pretended to think and then finally told her nephew that she would to him if he gave her a kiss on the cheek, which he did and added a raspberry on top of it before giggling as he ran to the bathroom.

"Sorry. He's been watching old episodes of the Cosby Show where Rudy liked to "zerbert" people." Alex stood up and began clearing the table and Olivia followed her to the kitchen. "So what did you want to tell me?"

Alex put the dishes in the sink before looking at Olivia with serious and intense eyes. "Is something wrong? Do you need something?"

"No, nothing like that," Olivia began. Alex scrutinized her for a few more seconds before she believed that whatever it wasn't too serious. "I saw him. Fitz."

Alex's face broke out into a wide smile and her eyes lit up. "Really? Are you being serious? Where did you see him? When?"

"Yesterday."

"And you only now decided to tell me? You suck! Tell me everything," Alex demanded, forgetting about the dishes. She leaned against the sink, very ready to hear Olivia's story. Olivia told Alex as much as she could about the settlement meeting without betraying client confidences. When she told Alex about how the meeting ended and their prolonged stares, Alex made an "awwwwww" sound.

"You're a lucky lady, Olivia Carolyn Pope. Also lucky that his name is Fitzgerald and not Fitzhugh." She laughed. But too bad you have this case going on now. The ethics of it all make it sticky. How long do you think this case will last?"

"Not sure. We would prefer not to end up in court, so I'm hoping we can settle this quickly and efficiently."

"Good! That way, you and Fitz can be free to date without worrying about professional responsibility and all that. Though, if it were me, I wouldn't even pretend to care about that! I'd date him anyway." Alex laughed. "So, have you guys made plans in the event that the settlement happens sooner rather than later?"

"No, we didn't."

"Why not?" When Olivia told Alex about the two phone calls, the smile left Alex's face, replaced by a look of fury.

"You did what? Liv, are you out of your damn mind?" It had been years since Alex really and truly screamed at her younger sister, but now was as good a time as any.

"No, I'm not out of my "damn mind". It was the right decision. A minute ago you seemed to understand the ethical quandary of everything."

"Liv, that's bullshit and you know it. You know good and well that this case will be settled. You may have to budge more depending on how things go, but I know you. So, in a few months you and Fitz would have been free to date each other. But you shot down all possibility. What's wrong with you?" Alex demanded in total frustration with her sister.

"There's nothing wrong with me. Excuse me if I'm not jumping up and down. He was a one night stand, he should stay that way," Olivia retorted, her own anger at her sister becoming evident.

"You're a trip. I was with you on Sunday when you came home. I saw the blush on your face when you spoke of him. You told me there was something between you. I told you he may have felt the same thing and I was right. And you just let it go?" The slightly older woman wanted to pull out her hair. Her sister was kind, giving and the most loyal person she knew. But Olivia could also be distant sometimes in her reticence to relationships.

"Whatever. Do what you think is best. But, I'll be honest, you best doesn't seem to be working out for you too much. You could be missing out on something huge! I saw the way the two of you looked at each other that night! Hell, it shined through in the pictures too. Given me your phone," Alex demanded impatiently, her hand out wishing for Olivia to drop her iPhone in its palm.

Olivia shrugged noncommittally. "I deleted them."

"What? You-"Alex was interrupted by the sound of a pitter patter of little feet against the hardwood floor.

Jaime, faced scrubbed and teeth clean, looked back and forth between his mother and his aunt. He looked unsure and a bit nervous. "Why you fighting?"

Olivia hurried to pick him up and he lay his head on her shoulder. "Sweetie, we weren't fighting. We were just talking with our outdoor voices."

"You mad at mommy?" The words were spoken in a soft tone as Jaime reached up to play with his aunt's hair.

"Nope. I love your mommy very much and she loves me too. Right, Alex?" Even though Alex didn't particularly look loving towards Olivia at that moment, it was true and she affirmed it for her son.

Jaime took them at their word and smiled. Because they were face to face, Olivia could see that Jamie's long and thick eyelashes rimmed sleepy brown eyes. Olivia took that as her cue to read Jaime a bedtime story and then leave. The hug that the two sisters shared at the door was stiff and formal.

* * *

"Good evening, everyone." Olivia gave both of her parents a hug and then kissed Alex on the cheek. She then went over to Jaime to give him a big hug and a small peck on his mouth. They chatted about his day, his animated way of speaking bringing a smile to Olivia's face.

Soon, they were seated at the good sized dining table to begin the dinner Maya's hired chef prepared earlier that day. Olivia was happy that the conversation was fairly lively, with each adult interjecting their views and opinions. Things took a turn for the worse when, after talking to Jared about some of the more extraordinary feats he achieved as an ER surgeon, attention was turned towards Alex's professions.

"So, Alex, how are your little book drawing doing?" Maya asked as she brought a forkful of salmon to her mouth. To outsiders, the tone of Maya's question would evidence genuine interest. Olivia, Maya and Jared knew better, however.

"Yes, how's all of that going? You never keep us updated about that part of your life." Eli looked across the table pointedly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jared saw his wife's mouth clench into a tight line. He rested his hand on Alex's thigh and began to rub it in a circular pattern, hoping that the movement would calm her. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"My book _illustrations_ are fine. And the reason I don't keep the two of you updated on that part of my life, as you call it, is because you try minimize and diminish all the time. So excuse me if I would rather save you the trouble of pretending to care about something I'm very passionate about." Alex's tone, while firm, was respectful in deference to them being her parents. But they were walking a fine line - and Jared and Olivia knew it.

"It's not that we don't care, baby," Maya began. "Your father and just think you had so much potential to do bigger things. You could have been an attorney just like your sister."

"Don't do it, mom. It's not fair to compare the two of us. Alex is her own person and she's doing what she wants to do." Olivia often gave her parents a lot of leeway, but she never allowed them to put her against her sister. The fact that Olivia followed her parents' plan and became an attorney while Alex rejected the plan and followed her heart was always a sore spot for Maya and Eli. They had envisioned their daughters running their firm one day, and Alex threw a wrench in that plan. They rarely ignored an opportunity to remind both sisters of the fact that Olivia was the "good" one who would live up to all the potential they saw in her.

Although still annoyed with Olivia, Alex appreciated Olivia nipping that train of thought in the bud. Her sister never reveled in being their parents' seeming "favorite" child. On the contrary, Alex often thought Olivia felt stifled by being the dutiful daughter. There had been hints for years, but Alex had never been able to get Olivia to live her own life instead of inevitably doing what their parents wanted. "Anyway, this is not a conversation I want to have now, or ever, especially with the little one here," Alex announced, tilting her head toward Jamie, who, after finishing his food, contented himself with playing games on Alex's iPhone.

Jamie, enthralled by Angry Birds, didn't notice his grandparents staring at him.

"What are you playing there, young man?" Eli's voice was soft in deference to the young boy.

Jamie looked up and smiled at his grandfather. "Angry Birds! It's fun, grampy."

"Well, why don't you come over here and show me how to play it." Jamie hurried over to sit on his grandfather's lap. It was always interesting for Olivia and Alex to see their parents interact with Jamie. Alex didn't necessarily keep Jamie away from his grandparents, but she definitely limited the time he had alone with them. She always had the fear in the back of her head that her parents' tendency toward subtle disparagement would have a negative effect on the little boy, and that was a risk she wasn't willing to take.

At one point, Maya toyed with Jamie's braids and had a slight look of disapproval on her face, but the look passed quickly, though not without Jared and Olivia seeing it. Otherwise, the rest of the night passed with no issues. Eli was the first to leave, but not before slipping Jamie a twenty dollar bill and pointedly telling Alex and Jared that he'd like to spend more time with his grandson, a sentiment which Maya shared. Now, standing outside, Olivia keyed in her passcode in order to call a car service to take her home after refusing a ride home from Jared.

"No, you guys go home. I don't want you to have to take me to Brooklyn and then come back into the city. My little man looks tired, you need to get him to bed." Olivia bent down so that she was eye-level to Jamie. She puckered her lips and Jamie placed a sloppy kiss on them.

"I love you, Jamie."

"I love you, too, Auntie Libbia." Jared gave his sister in law a big hug before helping Jamie situation himself in the car seat. Alex and Olivia were left alone on the sidewalk and just stared at each other for a few seconds before Alex snatched Olivia's phone out of her hand. With a few quick swipes and tapes, Alex was viewing Olivia's photo stream. She handed Olivia back the phone and Olivia was surprised to see the pictures that she and Fitz had taken last weekend.

"I thought I deleted these."

"You did. But, I figured you only deleted them from the photo album and not the photo stream, which backs up to the cloud," Alex explained.

"Why are you showing these to me, Alex?"

"Because I want you to look at them. Look at the smile on your face and the happiness in your eyes. You deserve to look like this all of the time -"

"But Alex..."

"No buts, Liv. Go home and look the pictures and think about what you see there. You know I only want you to have everything you want in life, right?" Alex asked her the question that Olivia heard more than once from her sister. Despite the fact that they were only a year apart in age, Alex reveled in being the big sister and took the role seriously.

"I know, Alex."

"I love you, Liv."

"I love you, too. Thank you." The sisters hugged and Alex placed her own sloppy kiss on Olivia's cheek. The pair made plans for shopping and it wasn't look before Olivia's car arrived. Olivia waved to her family as they drove off and then got into her own car. After settling in and relaying the route she preferred to take home, she flipped to her photo stream and looked at the pictures of her and Fitz. Staring at them, she saw that, once again, her sister was right. She did have an extra sparkle in her eye and Fitz looked equally happy. Once again, she questioned pushing Fitz away and wondered, if the opportunity presented itself, if she should try again.

* * *

It was still early when Fitz made his way because into his apartment. Yet, he felt so tired from the day he'd had. It seemed like whatever could go wrong at work did, and that was followed by a date with Harrison's coworker. As Fitz made his way through his nightly routine he thought about his date with Delia. She was a good looking woman, svelte with strawberry blonder hair and green eyes. She was tall, too, with Fitz estimating her height to be about 5'9 without heels. She was smart, quick and witty. Their dinner conversation was never boring nor stunted by awkward lulls. Fitz hadn't been on a date as enjoyable as that in months, maybe even over a year. Though, he should have known that Harrison wouldn't have set him up with just anyone. Despite Harrison's jokes about Fitz needing to get laid and have fun, Fitz knew that Harrison always had his best interests at heart. That had never changed in all of the years they've known each other.

Fitz, now in soft cotton pajama pants that rode low on his hips, got into bed. He stared at the ceiling as he thought about the rest of his date. He'd taken Delia home, of course, and walked her to her door. They had an easy comfort that surrounded them. At her door, Fitz leaned down and, after seeing signs of her approval, gave Delia a small peck on the lips. He's promised that he would call her in a few days, and he was pretty sure that he would. The only thing that made him hesitate was Olivia. Try as he might, it was hard to get her out of his head despite her brush off.

Thoughts of Olivia's pouty lips open in so much pleasure that sounds were stuck on her tongue aroused him. He felt the stirring in his pants and reached down to grip himself, imagining that his hands were hers. His hand moved up and down his erect member as his mind reminisced over the love making him and Olivia shared. The memories made the feelings he gave himself more potent and it was after she was really there with him, her small hand wrapped around him doing her best to make him feel good. But, when he neared his climax all of his movements stopped. He denied himself a climax spurred by thoughts of Olivia, the same way she denied them a real chance. Though painful - and he surely wouldn't make a habit of this - he waited until his erection went down, and went to sleep with the hopes that Olivia Pope would not invade his dreams.

**A/N: Back to Olivia and Fitz interaction next chapter. Hope y'all enjoyed seeing a glimpse into Olivia's "interesting" family dynamic.**


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